Moscone Center, Hall D, Session U72B: Education in Geosciences, 13h30
" The REVEL Program: Research and Education: Volcanoes-Exploration-Life " by Véronique Robigou and John R. Delaney (University of Washington, School of Oceanography, Seattle, Washington 98195-7940)
ABSTRACT
REVEL is a program designed to support and empower science teachers to enhance Math, Science and Technology education. The program was developed by the University of Washington School of Oceanography and Volcano Systems Center. The 1996 pilot project provided an opportunity for Washington State teachers to participate in a scientific research cruise and will offer two curriculum development workshops at the University of Washington during the 1996-1997 school year.
The guiding philosophy of REVEL is the belief that by engaging the teacher in active research activities and in state of the art technologies associated with today's research, we can most effectively impact student attitudes toward Math, Science and Technology. By empowering the teacher to participate in hands-on research, we energize the educator with out of the ordinary experiences and help validate his or her role as a science practitioner that can impact student achievement in scientific subjects. By collaborating with and supporting the teacher to develop curriculum activities for the classroom, school, district and general public, we hope to enhance student appreciation of the role and importance of scientific inquiry and research in everyday life.
The site of research operations for the REVEL96 cruise was 200 miles off the British Columbia -Washington-Oregon coast on the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge spreading center. The focus of studies were the physical, chemical and biological processes associated with active volcanic and hydrothermal systems. The scientific party from the University of Washington, University of Québec at Montreal, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University and University of Victoria, B.C., on board the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson used the Canadian Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Sciences (ROPOS) to document and sample the biological communities supported by active hydrothermal venting. The night time program included CTD surveys of the water column to explore for unknown actively-venting sites and mapping surveys.
Nine selected 7-14 grade science teachers acted as research assistants working in collaboration with scientists and presented a research project at the end of the two week-long cruise. In addition to their involvement in research, the teachers participated in hands-on marine operations, stood watches for ROPOS dives, attended lectures offered by participating scientists and brainstormed on curriculum ideas to develop in the next few months. They were an integral part of the scientific team and participated in the discovery a new hydrothermal vent field, in tube worm growth experiments, in predators studies and in time-series studies of hydrothermal systems. Material collected and analyzed during the cruise (biological and geological samples, maps, video tapes, slides and lecture notes) is available for use in the classrooms as well as a wealth of information regularly added to the Web site at http://www.ocean.washington.edu/exploraquarium/revel/. The teachers will present preliminary progress in implementing curriculum activities in their classrooms during a November workshop. During the second workshop, they will present their experience and final progress to next year's REVEL participants as well as provide feed-back to the REVEL program on how this pilot experiment impacted them, their teaching, their students and their community.